This application discloses improvements on my previous U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,299,589; 3,314,862; 3,450,192; and 3,563,305 that dealt with xe2x80x9cmodulating temperatures within enclosures.xe2x80x9d
The enclosures of prior art were primarily of a modest size such a residence or the usually smaller size of solar stills. These were preferably fitted with movable panels of insulation appropriately operated in consonance with the diurnal availability of solar energy to heat a thermal storage material and an underlying enclosure, or to cool the storage material and enclosure to the night sky. The storage material used was principally water though other materials with high heat capacity were disclosed by this inventor such as concrete, earth, brick, and metal.
This prior art attained maximum collection of solar radiation and maximum loss of heat by radiation to the night sky throughout a localized body of heat storage material by totally exposing this for heat gain or loss through stacking the insulation over a portion of said enclosure not to be thermally controlled. Success with a modest size enclosure having a modest internal heat load frequently resulted in a much greater thermal efficiency than was required to maintain the enclosure temperatures within the desired thermal range. This excess thermal effect was eliminated by unidirectional movement of the insulation panels from said enclosure portion not to be thermally controlled to a location totally or partly over the thermal storage means.
The process for modulating temperatures in enclosures A and B of FIG. 1 by a major embodiment of prior art consists, in the wintertime, of moving the panels to expose water 4 to solar radiation which, in most part, passes through the water to the black liner 7. There, it converts to heat conducted to the steel ceiling 8 and underlying enclosures as well as to the overlying water of which the depth has adequate heat storage capacity to keep said enclosures at desired temperatures over a period of several cloudy days. A solid-state control mechanism (not shown) measures the indoor temperature, the water temperature, and the SolAir (solar radiation plus wind cooling) temperature and activates the motor 10 to close the panels if the water becomes overheated.
While not previously conceived by this inventor, nor known to have been used by others in prior practice, the panel 1 can be opened only a small distance to uncover a small portion of 4 as a means to regulate the amount of admitted solar radiation. Water 4 then has nonuniform heat that tends, in time, to equalize under a covered portion of the water by means of conduction and convection within the water and by conductance through the steel deck, 8. This was not earlier considered because it was simple to open all of the panels to obtain maximum heat and have them close totally when the total underlying enclosure reached the desired temperature. The method of partial opening requires less motor power and produces zone control of temperatures that, in some instances, is highly desirable in the underlying enclosures.
In the summertime, with prior art, it is generally desired to keep the water 4 totally covered during the daytime until the solar radiation intensity is low and, by water exposure, heat can be lost to the sky. This cools the water and, through the steel deck, cools the underlying enclosure. Again, prior practice has been to obtain maximum cooling quickly by uncovering all of the water rather than exposing only a smaller portion to deliberately create and maintain two or more thermal zones in the water and in underlying portions of the enclosure.
During Spring and Fall months, the temperatures within the water 4 may remain within a desired range without moving the overlying panels of insulation.
Many experimenters with high academic or professional qualifications have attempted to improve upon my early art of the 1960s. Their several experiments and publications varied the means and location for storage of the movable insulation panels above a portion of the enclosure not to be thermally controlled through ways foreseen by me but not used because of associated disadvantages that caused system failure.
For instance, in an attempt to circumvent my simple horizontal stacking of the insulation panels, other investigators moved the panels from a horizontal position over the thermal storage media to a vertical accordion pattern not over the storage media. This configuration had been foreseen in my earliest work in the 1960s and warnings were given at Arizona State University that, while this position might have the advantage of reflecting additional amounts of solar energy onto the thermal storage mass, it resulted in a highly objectionable windfoil effect on the stacked panels. Also it did not hold the panels totally within the track system thereby subjecting them to unequally restrained wind uplift with consequent disturbing chatter as well as damage requiring intolerable maintenance problems. Moreover, the reflection of solar energy to the water was not necessary when more heating and cooling than required was obtained without it.
It is an object of the present invention to gain economic and thermal control advantages in the process of modulating temperatures by significant simplifications of the prior art, as seen in FIGS. 3, 4, and 7, and their description.
It is a further object to have, above the roof of a building, an apparatus that consists of a thermal control means comprised primarily of a drive mechanism and three separate panels, or assemblies of panels, with the central panel being rigid and in a fixed position highest above a thermal storage means located over said roof and two movable insulating panels in separate tracks located at different levels under and to either side of said fixed panel wherein said movable panels totally cover said thermal storage means on both sides of said fixed panel or substantially underlie it and thereby expose, on both sides of said fixed panel, portions of said heat storage medium for solar energy collection or radiation of heat to the night sky, as seen in FIGS. 3, 4, and 7, and their description.
It is an added object to have a process and apparatus wherein movable insulation causes a thermal storage means to receive solar heat or reject heat to the Sky wherein heat in said storage means is transferred internally between areas shaded and not shaded portions through convection and conduction from two sides of said shaded portion, as seen in FIGS. 3, 4, and 7, and their description.
It is an additional object to have an apparatus and process to modulate the temperature of an enclosure through its roof to an overlying fluid thermal storage medium having overhead a thermal control means in which some component insulation panels are moved to effect heat transfer between the sky and a portion of said fluid thermal storage mass while a fixed panel shades another portion of said storage medium wherein heat is transferred within said thermal storage mass by convection and conduction from two sides, as seen in FIGS. 3, 4, and 7 and their description.
Moreover, it is an object to have a process and apparatus that can transfer heat from within a structure through its top into that portion of an overlying fluid thermal storage medium, shaded at least in part by a fixed portion of a thermal control means, where it enhances bilateral conduction and convection that transfers heat to another area of said medium that can be exposed by movable insulation panels to control solar energy collection and heat rejection in said heat storage medium, as seen in FIGS. 4 and 7.
6. It is also an objective to CO-laterally assemble on the roof of an enclosure of large size, such as a commercial building, an array of individual thermal control units, each having a central fixed top panel and a drive mechanism for two or more underlying panels of movable insulation, in which said fixed panels are located for easy access or to distribute the shading effect thereof in the optimum manner for heat transfer through a thermal storage means to establish thermal zone control in an underlying enclosure, as seen in FIG. 6 and its description.
It is a further object of this invention to have a process and apparatus to produce thermal conditions within an enclosure that are nearly constant under its entire roof area in contrast to prior art which required large stacking areas not covered by a thermal storage means, as seen in FIG. 7 and its description.
It is also an object to produce temperature control of different zones in a building by a process and apparatus that partially uses forced air circulation to transfer heat from one zone, where the temperature is controlled by conduction from an overlying thermal storage media having above it movable insulation as a thermal control means, to a remote zone not having said overhead thermal storage and movable insulation thermal control means, as seen in FIG. 5, and its description.
It is an object of this invention to reduce the track cost, maintenance and sounds of a thermal control means having movable insulation panels, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3 and their description.
Another object of this invention is creation of various thermal zones within an enclosure to favor temperature-sensitive animal or plant growth, as seen in FIG. 6 and its description.
Still another object of my invention lies in a process and apparatus that uses thermal storage means of different shapes and orientation, and corresponding movable insulation thermal control means, for areas of small size or odd shape such as might be caused by other equipment commonly occupying a portion of a roof structure such as an atrium, skylight, dormer, auxiliary air conditioning, etc, as seen in FIG. 6 and its description.
Also it is an object to provide a process and apparatus for thermal control of an enclosure wherein a portion of the apparatus is one or more fixed panels spanning a substantial portion of a roof to serve as an independently standing base on which to mount such items as solar stills, water heaters, TV antennae, photovoltaic cells, telephone and electric wires, lightning rods, and other items, as seen in FIG. 7 and its description.
Another object of this invention, is an apparatus over an enclosure comprising a freestanding fixed panel that bears, fastened thereon, such devices as solar stills, water heaters, etc., and which is also the fixed panel under which movable panels of a thermal control means converge over a thermal storage material which modulates temperatures in said enclosure, as seen in FIG. 7 and its description.